Melty Blood heARTS
By Demon Eyes
Disclaimer: Arcueid and co belong to Type-Moon not me.
Act IV
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She had to tell Tohno-kun about this. If she was lucky, then the church was going to tell her to take care of the business in this town. Why couldn’t they tell her what she had to do on the phone anyway? Probably ‘for your ears only’ and such things. Looking on the bright side, she would have something to do after a long while. She wanted to do some serious fighting some time soon. Parrying with Arcueid was all good but she couldn’t go all out. Though she knew that she wouldn’t be able to kill the true princess, very high damage would be involved and for some reason, Ciel wasn’t too thrilled by that idea. Well, there is also the point of Arcueid losing it and going berserk, which was most definitely not a good thing for her, and every one else.
While on the subject, she wondered how things went between those two! Hopefully Arcueid didn’t chicken out and kissed and made up instead. She was motionless for a second, “Erg, enough of this. I’m going to be late for class.” She picked up her bag, walked to the door and put on her shoes. After a simple spell on her home, she closed the door and left for school. She was passing through Arcueid’s neighborhood when she saw her. Now Ciel wondered why she hadn’t taken a different route. This was the shortest way to school but still, if you had to either take a long road or pass by this crazy girl, then if you were normal you would take the long route. “Ya~ho Ciel.” The simpleton girl greeted Ciel with a wave of her hand. Ciel looked around quickly from side to side to make sure no one saw her with this weird young woman acting like a kid.
She let out a relieved sigh when she saw that the streets were empty. People didn’t get up this early in the morning except maybe students but it seemed that Ciel was an earlier riser than them. Still, she didn’t want to take a chance of being seen with Arcueid especially if the students were going to her school. She ran over to Arcueid and taking her raised hand, quickly moved it to her side and kept it there for point. “What?” Arcueid asked with a pout on her beautiful face but never made any motion of pulling away her hand from Ciel’s grasp. “Why do you always act like suck a kid? This would be excusable say, 500 years ago but even now?” Actually Ciel never meant it to sound as harsh as it did but she had had it.
“Well, excuse me for being myself.” This time Arcueid pulled her hand away and it seemed to Ciel that she had hurt her, maybe. Arcueid had started to walk forward and Ciel caught up to her. When Ciel stole a glance at her face, Arcueid turned the other way and this almost made Ciel to chuckle. Perhaps Arcueid wasn’t acting like a child but was not yet mature enough to the world. She wondered how long it would take her to grow up internally. Maybe a few 1000 years or more. Ciel decided that she had been a little hard on her so she decided to let her pride fall a little. “I’m sorry Arcueid, that wasn’t called for, okay?”
Arcueid turned back with a smile on her face. “A ha, I got you good Ciel. I never knew you had manners too.” She laughed at her. Ciel strangely wasn’t angered by that and she joined in even on the laugh. After a few seconds, Ciel decided to know how it went with Tohno-kun. “So Arcueid, did you talk to Tohno-kun about that?” The smile never left Arcueid’s face as she nodded a yes to Ciel but that didn’t tell her anything so she pressed on, “So you talked to him, and?” They walked on as Ciel awaited Arcueid’s answer. Normally this would show that the talk didn’t go all well but a happy Arcueid said otherwise.
“Well, to cut it short, we decided to take a break and see other people if we want.” She turned to Ciel and said, “I guess that means that I’m all yours now.” Ciel never wasted any second to voice her shock. “WHAT?!!” She stooped suddenly and if there were people walking behind her, they would be colliding with her back. “Arcueid made another pout and said, “What do you mean what? Now that we decided to take a break from each other, I will be spending my time with you. There aren’t many people that I know here and even though we had our differences, we have been bumping into each other for years and even worked together.” Her eyes brightened up here. “I don’t know why you don’t think we are friends. I think of us as friends.” She took Ciel’s left arm that was not holding the bag and linked hers around it. “Come of friend, I will see you off to school.” Ciel’s protests were all for naught as Arcueid was a lot more strong than her.
“Ciel decided to let her simple...friend have her way and let herself be pulled towards her school. Then Ciel thought of what Arcueid had said not so long ago and decided to invite her along with her to H.Q. “Arcueid, I am going back to the church for a new assignment tomorrow. Do you want to come with?” Ciel never looked at Arc while she asked but kept her gaze in front. “Really Ciel? I am coming with. Yes I am.” She got her hands from Ciel’s arm and gave her a quick hug before she returned to her hold onto the arm. “I‘ve been really bored. I hope it is an interesting foe.” She says foe because the church may seem like a peaceful place but their job is to destroy evil. Ciel is more commonly known as The Bow and the clients she works for maybe religious but their agency is known as ‘The Burial Agency’.
Arcueid was brought up differently from her people. Where the other true ancestors fell into sin and went over to the dark side, she was raised to fight against them and kill them. After Arcueid had earned her freedom when she defeated Wallachia with the help of Shiki, she was no longer in service to the church. This is why she is being invited by Ciel when she would receive her own orders separately. They were in the school grounds even before they knew it. Ciel was lost in her thoughts as to why she was being nice to her sworn enemy when the said enemy informed her that they were here. Ciel snapped to her senses quickly at that but she was too late. Students that had already arrived were all staring at them. Sports club students that were on the grounds all stood to stare. A keeper in one of the goals that face Ciel was pounded in the face by the ball because he was so gone.
“Oh great.” Ciel mattered under her breath. She didn’t know why but she was glad that Tohno-kun and her sister were not early people so they didn’t see them like this. In a few seconds all windows were filled with students all wondering what was going on. All Arcueid was doing was waving to them and the students waved back. She was quite popular with them as she had been coming in before to torment Tohno-kun but now Ciel was the victim. She pulled herself away from the cheery girl. “Okay Arcueid, this is where I leave you. Bye.” She turned away and proceeded to the main building. “I will see you at lunch Ciel.” She heard Arcueid shouting after her. One of the girls in the volleyball team wooed, “Arcueid-san, do you want to play with us for a while?” And all the rest of the players begged for her to join them.
“Alright.” Arcueid said before skipping over to the court and she was tossed the ball. She went over to the line and served a clean ball that was received and the game was on. Most guys stopped what they were doing and came over to watch this beauty that they all wanted to have but never got the guts to go ask her out. Usually she would be with that second year Shiki Tohno but it seemed that he wasn’t around now. They used this chance to ogle her to their hearts’ content. The students who were still coming in also went to the now enclosed space with a wall for students. Shiki and Akiha were among the now arrivals and them too went to see what this was about.
“I wonder what the commotion is over there. I have never seen something like this.” Shiki said to his sister as they made their way over to the cheering students. “May be a new transfer student? An interesting transfer student.” Shiki didn’t think so but the thought of correcting Akiha wasn’t one of his most appealing. They reached the students and excusing them selves, were given a way as students knew Shiki and Akiha well. Shiki, because he was the boyfriend to the subject of their attraction and Akiha had her own reputation since she transferred a few months ago. Not only was she graceful, beautiful and intelligent, she was good at sports too. This of course didn’t make her more popular to the students than Arcueid. Arcueid was more inviting compared to Akiha.
Upon seeing Arcueid playing volley like no other, Akiha was not impressed as expected. After mattering a ‘I should’ve known’, she made her way to class and left the idiots to their business. Back at the court, when Arcueid heard the cheers die, she looked around in interest to see that students had stepped aside to let Shiki through. She ran over to him all hyped up from the game and greeted him as usual. She was going to put her arms around his like she usually does but stopped herself. She seemed a little embarrassed by that and Shiki found that he couldn’t talk at first. “I’ve never seen you play before. Did have fun?” he decided to go for that. “Oh yes I did.” She turned to the teams and thanking them for the game, walked Shiki to the doors to the school and turned to go do other things. Shiki looked after her walking figure and after a few seconds walked on to meet his friends.
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(Next day)
Ciel had just finished packing all the stuff she might need on the assignment when she heard someone knocking at her window. She let out an angry sigh for she knew who would be crazy enough to go to her 7th floor window for an entrance instead of taking the lift and coming through the door. When she looked over to make sure just in case, she actually felt a little happy to see the face that she had seemed to not spend even a day without seeing. Arcueid was somehow balancing on the rim of the glass window and all the while carrying a bag (it looked more like a sac to Ciel) on her shoulder. The bag itself had a load of things that she just had to know what they were from a person who seemed to have a limited or no wardrobe.
Ciel went over to the window and opened it to let Arcueid inside before people saw her. She wondered if they hadn’t seen her already after all the times she had used the window for an entrance. “Ya~ho Ciel. I brought my things over that I will need on our trip.” After patting Ciel on her back (with quite a little force that would make normal people wince with pain) she dropped her bag on the bed. By the way all the contents scattered and fell (some to the floor), she had not even bothered to tie it up. Ciel was right. Arcueid had just gotten a 54x54 sheet, laid it out and placed things inside. Things that Ciel didn’t want to name out loud but most definitely not at all needed. All the stuff Arcueid had brought was of no use to either her or Ciel.
“What in the world is all of this crap? Forgetting the fact that you won’t be needing any of it, there is absolutely no way you will pass these on the plane?” Ciel observed in disbelief the wonder that is Arcueid’s travel baggage. “I am going to add your clothes to my bag since there is still some space left but all this junk is not going anywhere.” She began to put Arcueid’s clothes in her bag when she noticed that the other young woman was just staying there watching her. “Why don’t you go play with Nanako for the time being and I will bring you tea after I finish this quickly.” Arcueid obeyed and went into the living room where sounds of punches and kicks and blasts could be heard into the bedroom. When Arcueid got there, she could see the strange looking girl really into some strange game combining hand fighting and guns.
You could see how excited she was by the wagging of her tail. Arcueid got the urge to grab it and didn’t waste anytime to do so. Poor Nanako was so surprised that she let go of her controller to try and find her balance as she was lifted from the floor by her tail. She flailed her arms about and screaming for freedom which never came. She tried to twist and look at her interrupter expecting to find her angry master. Whenever she messed up and never cleaned after her self, Ciel would get really cross with her and that’s when the tail grabbing came into effect. The surprise was definitely there when she found not Ciel but Arcueid. She gave a whimper at the identity of her holder. Nanako was terrified of this person and for good reasons.
Ciel was now in the kitchen making tea when she snapped. She had been hearing Nanako plead over and over for her rescue and it was getting annoying. Add the cries of Nanako and Arcueid’s laugh together and you will know why. She stormed over to them and shouted to the top of her lungs, “Damn it Arcueid, stop it already. I told you to play not terrorise Nanako.” She turned to Nanako. “Go to the dining table and bring the cookies I put there, will you?” She set the tray of tea and cups she had brought with her. Arcueid came over and sat in the same two seat sofa that she had settled in all excited. Ciel was a little happy that at least Arcueid appreciated her tea making skills. Even though Tohno-kun visited her club room from time to time, he never showed the needed enthusiasm of it. It seemed like he only came over to keep her company and not for the tea.
Nanako came over with the cookies and placed them on the table. Ciel poured the tea into the three cups and went to start drinking hers. “Better make it quick. Tohno–kun will be here any minute now with a cab to take us to the airport. We have to be ready.” She sipped again at her tea and picked up a cookie to snack on. Speaking of being ready, Ciel looked Arcueid over and noticed that she was wearing her normal clothes-the long sleeve blouse and maroon skirt. Ciel was not going anywhere with her dressed like that. She set down her cup and went to the bedroom. She came back a moment not too long and found Arcueid swatting Nanako’s hand away from the last cookie. She shook her head not yet grasping Arcueid’s actions. She was carrying a dress in her hands and dropped it on Arcueid’s lap upon reaching her.
“Go and change into those clothes Arcueid, or you are going no where.” She sat down and continued to drink her tea. Arcueid started to complain but seeing that she wasn’t being paid attention to, caved in and went to change. After some time, Arcueid came back having changed. “You are really stingy, you know that Ciel?” She sat back down and folded her arms over her chest. She tried really hard to look a little angry but could not pull it off well. Arcueid really was so innocent. Ciel spied a glance her way and was satisfied that it still fit her well. It was a long and wide dress that Arcueid used to wear a long time ago. It was of two pieces but joined together. The top which started from her chest leaving her shoulders and breast bone bare was white with gold trails that came to join the long blue skirt and if Ciel was being honest to herself, Arcueid looked magnificent in it.
Her cheek grew warm when she realised what she was thinking. This didn’t go unnoticed by Arcueid however and being a busy body she is would never let it pass. “Ciel, do you like?” She moved her eyes down her body and made a snicker. Ciel got a little redder and tried to burry her face in her tea cup but all it did was make Arcueid laugh a little. Ciel would’ve died of embarrassment had her door bell not ring at that moment. She got up quickly to go answer it and luckily, her cheek had cooled down a bit by the time she opened it to find Shiki and Aoko Aozaki standing there. She was a little startles to see her there after so long. “Blue. It’s been a long time. How have you been?” She went over and gave Aoko a hug which surprised Shiki. He didn’t know that his sensei had met with his sempai before. “Hello Tohno-kun. Please come in.” She stepped aside to let them enter.
This day seemed to be about surprises to Shiki as he saw Arcueid there in Ciel’s apartment sitting comfy in the couch. He had never thought them to be close as Ciel to sit in the same room as Arcueid without shit going down and by the looks of things, nothing of the sort had happened, yet. Even more so was the fact that Aoko was also already acquainted with Arcueid. When Aoko explained that she had helped them on an assignment a few years back, 2000V wouldn’t have been enough to bring Shiki back to the present. He sat there while the girls caught up to old times and laughed girlishly. He went over and played a few games with Nanako all the while losing. She was good. He reminded them when it was almost time to leave.
“That’s why I am going back. I asked Arcueid to come along since she seemed really bored and you know it means action when I am called over.” Aoko had to agree. They wouldn’t call in the bow if there wasn’t big trouble that needed to be cleaned up. But she was also surprised by the closeness that these two almost polar opposites had. ‘Attract’ indeed. Even though she had come across them together before when they ere on the job, Ciel always looked ready to kill Arcueid and The True Princess seemed to welcome the challenge. This was proving to be really interesting. She almost had an inkling where this was going and wondered how the burial Agency would react at this. True they always wanted the two to get along better but if things were to be as she thought, then there would be some trouble. ‘Oh well, that is none of my business anyway.’ She agreed to herself.
“So, you will take care of Tohno-kun and the rest when we are gone, right? I don’t really know how this assignment will affect our time so it is good to know that you came back right now.” Ciel was a little relieved to know that Blue (as she referred Aoko to as) was staying in town for a long while. She could now leave without worrying about this Wallachia business. This of course also meant that the chances of her assignment being in this area were getting higher. She checked her watch at that and she saw that it was high time they left for the airport lest they be late. She let Nanako turn into her church gab and going to fetch her suitcase from the bedroom, they left for the airport and Ciel was looking forward to kick some major butt.
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(The Tohno mansion)
Hisui and Akiha were at the gate. Akiha was going out to meet her friends in town (She had started to go out after Shiki came back) and Hisui was there to see her off. The gates opened and Hisui bowed to show her respect to the mistress of the house. She went back to the house after closing the gate and went to look for her elder sister Kohaku. She had finished cleaning everything around the house and wanted to see if her sister could find her something to do. Hisui didn’t want to be idle. Strangely, Kohaku had been out of sight for a long while. The last time Hisui saw of her was around three or four hours ago. She entered the house and closed the main door behind her.
In a very dimly lit room, we a hooded figure working furiously with mechanical parts and making strange sounds of crazy laughter. Wires and cables of all kind and electrical sparks can be seen in the near darkness. Were it any other ordinary poor soul, they would’ve turned around and ran away screaming but of course the observer of this strange scene was no ordinary person. Hisui had searched all around the place for her sister and not finding her anywhere; decided to resort to her other...err...resources. The heat readings had shown a person in Kohaku’s room but she had already checked there and seen no one. Hisui had decided to check everything and had stumbled upon a secret entrance and it had led her to her sister. Now Hisui to those who knew her was not someone easily surprised but what she saw more than surprised her of course. “Ne…Nee-san!”
Kohaku who had been so absorbed in her experimentation that she failed to hear the door open whirled around and her eyes went almost comical wide. “Hisui-chan! This is not what it looks like.” She began to explain all the while sweating it out. “I can expl...Hisui-chaaaaaan!” She had started to take her hood down and start to explain but poor Hisui ran out of the room crying. Perhaps she was more ordinary than we thought her to be. Hisui knew that she was not the most sociable person in the house but this was really harsh. Her sister was probably tired of waiting for her to get over her angst and was now, was now creating something to play with instead of her. There in that room was another her. Her sister was creating a mechanical version of Hisui probably to replace her with.
If she was no longer in her sister’s life, where was she to be? She had reached the yard before she even knew it but before she went any farther, she felt someone grab her arm and stopped her in her tracks. “Hisui-chan, please stop and listen to me.” It was her sister Kohaku. “Why? So you can tell me how you no longer need me as to create a mock copy of me?” Hisui was very angry and her voice said it all. Kohaku flinched a little but she was getting angry too. How could Hisui think so lowly of her? Didn’t she know how irreplaceable she was to her?! “Please listen to me Hisui-chan. There in nothing that could replace you okay? You are the most important person to me. I know I haven’t told you that for a really long time but you must know it.”
True I’ve been finding myself missing the times that we played together when we were still kids but that is not why I created that.” Kohaku brings her little sister closer to her and strokes her hair. It has been a very long time since she saw her Hisui-chan show this amount of emotion. A very long time indeed. “Then why did you create in Nee-san?” Hisui wasn’t convinced. “I wanted to give us more allies to fight with our new enemies that we may have no choice but to fight. Last time you saw what Wallachia was capable of. I wanted us to be a little more prepared this time.” She kissed Hisui tenderly on her fore head and lowered her face to be eye to eye with her. “So you see Hisui-chan, not even my best creation can ever take your place, though I must admit that I will play with it a little, Ku ku ku.”
Hisui had started to complain but stopped herself when she saw her sister stifling a laugh calling her bluff. But knowing her as she did, it might not be a bluff at all but Hisui didn’t mind it, much, at least for now. “Now come on, let’s go back inside and maybe you can help me finish my project. I still have some areas I am having trouble with perfecting.” Here her eyes traveled to Hisui’s chest and Hisui grew red despite her effort not to.” They laughed at that a little as they made there way back to the house with Kohaku’s arm over Hisui’s shoulders. “What are you going to name it anyway Nee-san?” Kohaku made a motion of thinking but the fact was that she had already thought of a name for her masterpiece. “I will call her...Mecha-HISUI.”
To Be Continued...